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Mittelafrika
Mittelafrika (German for Central Africa) is a German colony in Africa. It is bordered to the north by the territory controlled by the French government in exile, Liberia, Egypt and Abyssinia, and Somalia; to the east by the Indian Ocean and the Portuguese colony of Portuguese East Africa; to the south by South Africa; and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, the Portuguese colony of Portuguese West Africa and Spanish Guinea. Mittelafrika is a part of the German Empire and is to be considered a de facto part of Mitteleuropa. History German entry in the Scramble for Africa Even if the unification of Germany arrived just before the Scramble for Africa reached its peak, then German Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck didn't engage his country from a colonialist perspective. Many reasons can explain such a choice: the need to concentrate on the completion of German unity; a tradition of German expansion and trade in Eastern Europe and North Sea; and Realpolitik statements: Bismarck indeed believed that letting the French continue their colonial expansion would divert them from the Alsace-Lorraine question and European matters, even if he managed to obtain some reserved areas to Germany during the 1885 Berlin Conference. Such considerations came to an end with the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose Weltpolitik policy supposed the entertaining of a High Seas Fleet along with prestigious Pacific and African territories. But by 1890, most of the available lands in Africa had been already overtaken by the British, French, Belgian and Italian settlers, and German colonization was contained to rather inhospitable areas such as German South West Africa, German East Africa, Kamerun, and Togoland, which were regularly strained by tribal revolts, such as the Hereros in South West Africa or the Hehe and Maji Maji in East Africa. The concept of Mittelafrika appeared at the beginning of German Weltpolitik in the 1890s, when German imperialists wanted to expand their territory and to link the colonies already owned by Germany by annexing the region between them. This was impeached by the British colonization of Rhodesia, as the British feared that the Germans could break their Cairo-Cape line of communication. In addition, Portugal, Britain's ally, repeatedly refused to cede their colonies of Angola and Mozambique to Germany. Thus, the geostrategic concept of Mittelafrika was created, proposing a German domination on Central and Eastern Africa, stretching from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, and ensuring German economic self-sufficiency through the exploitation of natural resources, which were already abundant in the Belgian Congo alone. The Mittelafrikaprojekt German historians revealed that on September, 9 1914, when Reichskanzler Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg secretly defined the war aims of the German Empire in the Weltkrieg, that then-Secretary of the German Colonial Office Wilhelm Solf considered to materialize Mittelafrika through annexing the Belgian Congo after Belgium was annexed or puppeted by the German Empire, which would force the British Empire to withdraw from its holdings in Central Africa. German strategic thinking was that if the region between the colonies of German East Africa, German South-West Africa, and Cameroon could be annexed, a contiguous entity could be created covering the breadth of the African continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Given the richness in natural resources of the Belgian Congo alone, this region would accrue considerable wealth to the colonising power through the exploitation of natural resources, as well as contributing to another German aim of economic self-sufficiency. Germany's aspirations in Mittelafrika were incorporated into Germany's aims in the Weltkrieg insofar as Germany expected to be able to gain the Belgian Congo after defeating Belgium in Europe. The full realisation of Mittelafrika depended on a German victory in the European theatre, where Britain would be forced to negotiate and cede control over Northern Rhodesia to Germany when faced with a German-dominated Europe across the English Channel. In the course of the actual war, German aspirations in Mittelafrika were never matched by events in the African theatre. The German colonies were at very different levels of defence and troop strength when the war began in Europe, and were not in a position to fight a war due to a lack of material. Out of all the German colonies, only General von Lettow-Vorbeck's troops in Eastern Africa held out throughout the war. ]] ]] ]] After the victory in Europe over Belgium and France in 1919 Germany demanded the transfer of the colonies of the Belgian Congo as well as Dahomey, Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar, all of French Equatorial Africa south of Lake Chad, Pondicherry, Indochina, and the Pacific colonies, along with a swath of territory from Pas-de-Calais to Lorraine from France. However, the French revolution prevented the immediate occupation of any overseas territories from France or Belgium. In the Peace with Honour of 1921, the Entente recognised Germany's peace treaties with its former members. This finally allowed Germany to annex the French and Belgian colonies in Africa, creating a direct connection between German East Africa and Cameroon. The Syndicalist revolution in Britain allowed Germany to further expand Mittelafrika. The German Empire managed to secure most of the British African Empire as well as the strategic colonies of Malta, Suez, Aden, Ceylon, the Strait Colonies, Brunei, and Sarawak. Portugal had initially occupied Nyassaland but it was forced to transfer control over the colony to Germany following the Second Ultimatum. With the acquisition of the former British colonies, Germany was finally able to link South West Africa as well as German Togoland to the rest of the colony. Since then, the structure of the administration has been largely unchanged, in the name of stability and consolidation, and the projects for the buyout of Angola have been dashed by the increasingly hostile government in Portugal. It's current Statthalter, Hermann Göring, is more concerned with his political hopes at home than with Africa. However, he and his closest allies have already openly claimed that Mittelafrika can be profitable, with the proper rulership. Politics As a colonial unit that spans almost half a continent, Mittelafrika is divided into six colonial governments, each one ruled by a governor appointed by the Statthalter: Congo (Kongo). East Africa (Ostafrika), Equatorial Africa (Äquatorialafrika), Southern Africa (Südafrika), South West Africa (Südwestafrika) and West Africa (Vestafrika). Each of those units is in turn divided into several individual colonies or provinces, and these, in turn, are divided into thousands of districts, colonial protectorates, and municipalities in each of these colonies. This decentralized leadership structure is a consequence of how fast and disorganized the formation and early consolidation of Mittelafrika was. Statthalter: Hermann Göring (born 12 January 1893) Vice-Staathalter: Erich Schultz-Ewerth (born 8 March 1870) Secretary of Propaganda and Intra-Diplomatic Affairs: Joachim von Ribbentrop (born 30 April 1893) Secretary for Colonial Treasure and Development: August Stauch (born 15 January 1878) Secretary of Colonial Security and Stability: Prince Alexander Duala Manga Bell (born 3 December 1893) Head of the Mittelafrikan Abwehr: Colonel Theodore von Hippel Chief of General Staff of the Colonial Army: Colonel Ernst Jünger (born 29 March 1895) Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Schutztruppe: Hermann Detzner (born 16 October 1882) Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Navy: Max von Looff Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Air Force: Paul Graetz (born 25 July 1885) Military While technically a part of the Germany Military, Mittelafrikan forces operate in a largely independent fashion due to the distances involved. Army The Army of Mittelafrika is as varied as the Dark Continent itself and could be as vast. The Askari hail from everywhere from Morroco to Madagascar, and everywhere they represent Germany's presence in the continent. Soldiers for hire, many join for a chance of a better life, and to climb the ranks of the administration later down the line. Regiments are often organized to minimize mixing of different ethnic groups for maximum unit cohesion, and while some shuffling is done, most garrisons are in fact manned by locally trained and armed soldiers led by local native officers, which in turn are subordinate to a German garrison commander. This would allow operations to continue even if contact with Belin or Darelsalaam is lost. Air Force The vast expanse of Africa means that Air Travel is often the only way to reach many destinations within reasonable timeframes. In addition to an airport network, Mittelafrika has entire air wings of its own, to be deployed in case of war or insurgency, especially banditry. However, the same vast distances mean most of the colony is outside the operational range of air bases. Navy The Mittelafrikan Colonial Navy is divided into two squadrons: the Western Squadron, tasked with protecting the Mittelafrikan Atlantic Coast, and the Eastern Squadron, tasked with protecting the Mitteafrikan Indian Ocean coast. The squadrons both consist of two battleships and their screens. The Eastern Squadron also has a torpedo boat squadron. Ships of the Mittelafrikan Colonial Navy are designated DAS, for Deutscher Afrikaner Schiff. ''The main activities of the navy in peacetime are of escorting colonial personnel traveling by sea. Foreign relations A Colony of Germany; will join the German-led Mitteleuropa alliance along with Flanders-Wallonia, Finland United Baltic Duchy, Lithuania, White Ruthenia, Ukraine and other German colonies in case of conflict. Mittelafrika cannot engage on diplomatic relations of its own volition despite its relative administrative autonomy but has very frequent border issues with Portuga, ripples, and consequences of the displacement of ethnic groups during the Weltkrieg, and good trade relationships with Somalia and Ethiopia. Most of its diplomatic efforts are expended internally, to keep the loyalty of the hundreds of sovereigns under the schaff of German colonial rule. Culture Mittelafrika spans over a vast region of Africa, being one of the largest countries in the world. Thus, one single recognizably Mittelafrikan culture does not present itself. German language and culture is widespread in the areas that made up the pre-Weltkrieg German colonies. The areas formerly held by Britain, Belgium and France all have their distinct cultural and social setups and the hundreds of kingdoms under protectorate have even more heterogenic landscapes and ideals. The paintings of Richard Knötel proposed, even before the Weltkrieg, an epic and exotic depiction of the German colonial action in Africa. Anyone who decides to travel in the former Belgian Congo, the Jewel of Deutsch-Mittelafrika, will, of course, bring in his luggage Joseph Conrad's '''Heart of Darkness'; famous German writer Ernst Jünger, a colonel in the Colonial Army, also announced that his experience in Mittelafrika would certainly inspire a new book. Some leftist writers have also traveled to Mittelafrika to see the effects of colonialism with their own eyes and denounce them, such as French writer André Gide whose 1927 Voyage au Kongo (Travels to the Kongo) are still forbidden in all German colonial holdings. Category:Countries Category:German-related topics Category:African countries